Paul Murphy condemns EU over Greece border crackdown

Thanks, Cian Comhairle. People should look at what's happening at the borders of Greece right now. It's utterly horrifying, it's utterly shameful. Of all of the disgusting things that the European Union have endorsed in the last decades, this has to be one of the worst. You have dinghies of frozen refugees coming from a war-torn country being turned away by a European Coast Guard. You have tens of thousands of refugees from Syria, including mothers and children, approaching barbed wire fences, being shot at by a European Union police force, the Greek police force, being hit by rubber bullets, being hit by tear gas to force them away from entry into the European Union. You have gangs of far-right activists attacking, marauding through refugee camps in Greece. You have at least two people killed so far in the context of trying to reach Greece, including a young child in a capsized boat, and all of that endorsed by the European Union. With the language of saying that Greece is playing the role of Europe's shield, according to the Commission President, and promising Greece more money and more support to bolster border security. It's really utterly disgusting, and it gives lie to any imagined European Union. That's a paragon of democracy and human rights. This is the European Union that actually exists today. A deeply racist, anti-democratic project, built on militarized borders of fortress Europe. And these are the real human consequences as a result of it. The government should distance itself. It should criticise the approach of the European Union. It should do that immediately. It should speak out about it. I think the vast majority of ordinary people in Europe would find von der Leyen's comments repulsive, the comments about Greece being Europe's shield, and we should be distanced from that approach. The government should also call on the European Union to refuse to endorse the Greek proposals to suspend the right of asylum. They're saying that basically the right of asylum, which there's no basis to do under international law whatsoever, and the UN have said this, the right of asylum is now being suspended for a month because the Greek government has said so. Instead of being endorsed by the European Union, that should be condemned by the European Union. And all of this, like the immediate cause of this, is decisions for their own purposes by the right-wing Turkish government. But as Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned, it has its roots in past decisions of a right-wing racist character by the European Union. Most fundamentally, the decision repeatedly to attempt to outsource European borders, to outsource the human rights abuses that are required to keep refugees that are fleeing wars and conflict situations fueled by Western imperialism, to outsource that to other countries. So in this case, outsource it to Turkey in 2016 in a disgusting, dodgy deal worth 6 billion euros for the Turkish state at the expense of human rights abuses for those who face it. But that's only one of many deals that's been done with authoritarian regimes, dictatorships, etc. It's also in line with the decision to stop search and rescue missions by NGOs, including Médecins Sans Frontières, in line with the vote of Fine Gael MEPs to back that up because of supposedly not wanting Frontex to be exposed to their operations. Instead, we need an entirely different approach. Instead of this militarised border security approach of Frontex, Frontex needs to be abolished. Instead, all of the money should be invested in search and rescue missions. The borders need to be open to allow Syrian and other refugees into the European Union. We need to restore the running of Mediterranean humanitarian rescue operations to the member states. The Irish naval service should be put at that disposal of that service. And I think the left and the workers' movement need to be to the fore on this issue. Because if we're not, in demanding the rights of these refugees, but also demanding the resources to ensure that there are adequate homes, adequate jobs, adequate services for everybody, and there's enough wealth in the European Union certainly to achieve that, If we're not to the fore on those issues, well then the far right, as they currently are in Greece, certainly will be, seeking to divide people between the poor and the very poor, and seeking to distract attention from the wealth and the resources that exist in our society, and those who are responsible for the crises facing working class people. Thank you very much. So, if I ask, you could answer those questions in the comment section in me, and I'll just focus on that. So, if I ask, you know, the national security thing is very dangerous for the Hamlet. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You're asking all for how much more money. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.